Help With My Test Results

[ferah]

Hello everyone,

Can you help me with my blood test results,

Serum 25-HO vit D3 level ...... 22 nmol/L ........ ( 80- 150.00 nmol/L)

<30 nmol/L Vit D deficiency

(Doctor gave me supplements for this )

TSH ....... 0.48 mU/L ................... 0.30 - 4.00 mU/L

T4 ......... 20.5 pmol/L ................. 10.50 - 24.50 pmol/L

(no T3 level, my doctor doesn't test it, she says '' if my TSH is high T3 is high as well, if TSH is low it's low,they're connected'', so they won't test it)

Ferritin ....... 26 ug/L ................. 10.00 - 160.00 ug/L

B12 / Folate ....... 541 ng/L .........191.00 - 900.00 ng/L

I take 100 mg levothyroxine for the last 6 months, my levels are ''normal'' for the last two visits to my doctor.

The problem is, I always feel tired and have no energy.

( Between 31-Dec-14 / 30-Apr 15 I felt really well and full of energy,I don't know how or why, but between those times, I was exercising 5-6 days a week, for an hour a day, I also started to run maybe 3 days a week and I lost the energy then ( I was taking 75mg levothyroxine those days) ....I've read and found out that i was over-exercising! After april I gained weight (but between those dates I lost weight) stopped doing exercising... (30-Apr-15 TSH was 6, T4 was 17)

I was given vitamin D at the beginning of September and feeling a little better (feeling like I have %15 energy)

I've started doing exercises no longer than 30 minutes a day( 5 days a week)

I went gluten free that helped me a lot ,feeling really better because of this.

But,

Do you think doing daily exercises for only 30 minutes can be enough for weight loss?

Also,

my doctor did a full blood test that I don't understand the results,are they normal?

I'm adding the photo of my results below.

These are from september, I'll have another blood test tomorrow for Vit D, Bone profile,folate.

Would love to hear your opinions and experiences (about exercising esp)

Thank you x

[greygoose]

I Don't think any amount of exercise is going to make you lose weight, because your weight-gain is nothing to do withe exercise.

All you do when you exercise is use up your T3, which makes you more hypo, and liable to put on even more weight. You're hypo. The usual rules Don't apply anymore.

Your doctor is crazy! Or she totally misunderstood what she 'learnt' in med school.

If TSH is high, FT3 is going to be low. But if TSH is low, it's meaningless. So many things affect TSH levels - like what time of day it is, if you've eaten, how well your pituitary is working (yes, it isn't even a thyroid hormone!) - that it should never be used for dosing purposes. The TSH certainly isn't connected to the FT3. TSH can be very low and FT3 low, that's true, but that's not the way it's supposed to be. Maybe she should go back to school for a while...

You need that FT3 reading if you want the whole story - especially if you Don't feel well. Because your TSH and FT4 are reasonable, but maybe you're not converting that T4 to T3. But you won't know that unless you get the FT3 tested.

Your B12 is okish, but could be higher. Much better up the top of the range.

Your ferritin is unacceptably low - I know it's 'in range', but much too low in the range. Should be at least mid-range. Best to do some supplementing there. Having low iron could very well mean that you aren't converting. It would also make you very tired.

What did she give you for the vit D? And how much? I wouldn't trust her to give you the right thing, being as she doesn't know much about anything, it seems. So, best to check!

The rest of the results are just the usual blah blah that they do to make it look like they're doing something. Nothing remarkable there.

[ferah in reply to greygoose]

Thank you greygoose for the reply.

I follow your comments on the site and I know if I don't know my T3 levels, exercising would be meaningless

I didn't believe in my doctor's comment about the connection of TSH and FT3, but my GP won't test it, I'll have a private test soon for it.

Because i was suspicious about converting enough FT4 to FT3...

I took my own notes and asked her to test my iron levels also but she didn't want to test it ( she said it's not necessary to test it, you can take iron from what you eat)

She also couldn't understand why I over-exercised!(she maybe hasn't heard about it yet) She said 30 minutes won't be enough to lose weight

She always offers me to eat less and exercise more...

(Infact she's a kind woman, a good listener but i sometimes think that if I'm the only one patient of her with hypothyroidism )

If my levels seem normal nobody says 'let's test your vitamin levels'' ....I asked them to test my vitamin levels...

And now, they seem normal to her...

She gave me 10 HuxD3 20.000u --- took 5 capsules a day = 2 days

and

after 2 days , Vit D3 1000iu for 60 days

(i finished this today, will go on taking it)

I saw Ferritin supplements on amazon (5 mg). Is it OK to buy?

Thanks for the reply again

[greygoose in reply to ferah]

OK, so she gave you a decent dose of vit D3 - but not for long enough!

She obviously doesn't know much about thyroid, or she would know that we have trouble absorbing nutrients from our food due to low stomach acid. And that hypos really shouldn't eat less and exercise more - quite the opposite.

That iron table seems a little low to me, but I'm no expert on iron. Perhaps you could post a new question. Or, have a look at this :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[guysgrams]

Doc could be wrong, I have a TSH of.525 and FT3 was 2.6 (2.3-4.2). Finally got an agreement to add T3 to my mix. I have been on this journey for 20 years now! It's amazing how some people in the medical profession just can't seem to get over themselves.

[ferah in reply to guysgrams]

Agree with you guysgrams,

Infact they're doctors, they have to know everything but I've learnt that I have to do my own researches! Unless we know-learn well, we can't force doctor to do smt...Because they're doctors,they know the best!

I don't understand why they don't test T3! And i see some people have their T3 tested in some areas! (I'm in London)

They could test it for the first time they diagnosed my problem!

I suffer from tiredness,having no energy; she has to know that something could be wrong with my T3 levels....

How could I exercise more with no energy? ( she thinks that i have to exercise more)

Glad to hear that you sorted it out.

Thanks for the comment.

[guysgrams in reply to ferah]

ferah, I had to finally take things into my own hands this past Spring (I live in U.S.A. BTW) I had two separate TSH reading in 2 years showing my TSH as high as 3.2 and also no lower than 1.7. I have always been around .5. The doctors here don't like to test anything other than TSH either. When I went in last Spring after getting lab results I gave my list of complaints that went on deaf ears. I hadn't felt that bad in many years. The doc had my FT4 tested but no FT3. After doing my own research I asked her about testing the FT3 and her response was "it doesn't matter, I'm not raising your dose". I told her it wasn't necessarily that I wanted an increase in dose I just wanted to get to the root of the problem and start feeling better again. We had quite the discussion! She finally referred me to an Endo. I then took it upon myself to get my own testing done and had a complete thyroid panel done along with some other tests. Found that my FT3 was at the bottom and even after the dose increase my Endo put me on (another test done) it hasn't budged. Light bulb! So Endo just started me on T3. Not sure how long it takes to see/feel the affects but am hopeful.

Hope you can find a way to get things fixed!

[humanbean]

To do some research on your own results, this link is very helpful :

labtestsonline.org.uk/under...

Almost anything that ever gets blood tested in the UK will have some info on that site if you do a search.

For people living elsewhere, you can find the labtestsonline site most appropriate for you, in several different languages, at this link :

labtestsonline.org.uk/globa...

[ferah in reply to humanbean]

Thanks humanbean for the reply and for the links...

They will be helpful for sure.

[judburke]

As grey goose has said your ferritin is way too low and will be making you tired and give muscle aches etc. Get a good supplement and take it with Vit c to help absorption. Also do not take at same time as thyroxin - I think the recommendation is to wait at least 2 hours. It takes a while to raise levels and a while for symptoms to improve. Aim for mid range.

Good luck

[judburke in reply to judburke]

I just noticed that you are now GF and feeling better- maybe ask for Coeliac testing. Low vitamins can be a symptom and increased thyroxin. nb for a good test result you will need to have been eating gluten. See Coeliac UK website.

This was my root cause for hypo symptoms going worse

[humanbean in reply to judburke]

Coeliac testing is only likely to be accurate if the person being tested has been eating gluten quite heavily for at least 6 weeks before the test.

Once someone has gone gluten-free the test will almost certainly give a negative result.

[ferah in reply to judburke]

Thanks for the answers judburke...

Yes , I feel tired, no energy all the time,force myself to do things and to do daily exercises.

I thought that muscle pains are normal because i do exercises (for arms, core, legs)

I've searched for iron deficiency after your comments (and from greygoose's) I've seen that I've many syptoms of having low iron;

-Light-headed

-Easily short of breath(!)

-Burning in legs (such as when climbing stairs)

-Feeling like one can’t get enough breath/air hunger (!)

-Pressure behind eyes

-Exhausted/easy fatigue

-Weak, esp. arms

-Brain fog

-Hot flashes/feeling hot

I told my doctor about these things but she didn't need to test my iron level and said the ferritin level was normal.

So I don't know a lot about the dosage,

Should I open a new post to ask or do you have any info for any supplement?

How much iron supplementation do I need to raise my low levels?

Saw this on stopthethyroidmaddness.com page: ''Patients have discovered they may need 150 to 200 mg of “elemental iron” daily, spread out with meals (i.e. 3 times a day), in order to adequately raise their iron levels''

Any ideas?

Thanks.